Exclusive: Parenthood Lands Gigantic Star to Play Drew's New Girlfriend

Miles Heizer, who plays Sarah’s rarely-seen son Drew on Parenthood, will finally get some serious screen time in Season 3.

Showrunner Jason Katims tells TVLine that the Braverman boy has a “really great coming-of-age story where he’ll have his first girlfriend.”

So, who’s the gal in question? We have learned exclusively that TeenNick actress Skyler Day (who was a recurring player on Marti Noxon’s short-lived Gigantic) will romance Drew as the adorable Amy.

“Skyler’s going to be in quite a few episodes over the season,” Katims reveals. “We are a few episodes in and haven’t finished her story yet, and are hoping that she’ll stick around over a long arc in the season. She’s so great.”

It’s not love at first sight for the two, but per usual, Grandpa comes to the rescue. “The initial story of Drew meeting Amy has to do with Zeek (Craig T. Nelson) helping him win her over,” he teases.

Day’s past TV credits also include guest spots on Law & Order: LA, The Closer and CSI: Miami.

Hmm…Drew always seemed to me to be an ideal candidate to be the first one in the family to “come out” as gay. Parenthood has SUCH a large cast and none of them are gay which is kind of odd, considering the emotional story lines that could come out of that and the accepting/not accepting approach his many family members could take. But perhaps this girlfriend is just him being confused and he comes out later?

Well, including spouses and girlfriends (jasmine), there are actually 15 leads in the opening credits. Which actually is a huge cast compared to other shows. I agree, it’s surprising that none of them are gay – if only to add some drama. I agree with the person above that not every big family HAS to have a gay member but it’s a TV show! I think having a young, shy gay teen would be kind of original actually (would be a nice contrast to flamboyant Kurt on Glee, for example)

I’m all for more representation of gay people on television. That said, I hate when writers make homosexuality that character’s one main issue and storyline. Gay or not, I’d rather see nuanced characters dealing with stresses of normal life, reacting to things like we all do – analyzing little things, overreacting, worrying about fitting in, etc.

I, like many here, always presumed Drew was gay and would eventually come out. I still have hope they’ll go this route, and I think this storyline would only serve to make that storyline even more emotional for all parties involved. Think about it, a boy reluctant to enter a relationship with a girl, sort of pushed into it by his grandfather… It reminds me a lot of the Kyle storyline in the 4th season of Everwood.

I will be disappointed if they don’t do this, honestly. I was/am a huge Friday Night Lights fan, and was always impressed with how progressive the show actually was, tackling such delicate issues as racism, rape, and abortion. The only thing they never REALLY did was an actual LGBT storyline. There were gay characters, such as Devon and the Mayor. I thought it was sort of nice how there were no big controversial storylines with these characters, they were just integrated into this world, but what did bother me was Coach Stan. They alluded to a story involving his sexuality, but nothing ever came of it. There was the one episode in the gay bar and it was never touched on again. I think it could have made for a very powerful arc, and I think not doing anything with it was a real missed opportunity on behalf of the show and it’s writers.

All I have with Parenthood in this area are theories and hopes that they will do something with this perception of Drew so many of us share. I would hate to see another opportunity for such a powerful story, that would mean so much to so many, go missed once again.

I agree, Josh. I always thought Drew was gay, and I’m still hoping they go that route. Although in this family, I don’t really see anybody caring one way or the other save for the Grandpa. so there may not be as much drama or emotion as you’re hoping for. It would also be very nice to see a shy sort of gay kid on TV, in contrast to the overtly flamboyant nonsense over on Glee.

I too have sort of always thought that Drew would eventually come out, and reading the above article I came to the same conclusions that a lot of other commenters have: that maybe this girlfriend will be the impetus for that. Maybe she’ll become a great friend to him and help him deal with it (or maybe she’ll fall in love with him and be completely heartbroken). Many, many gay people date people of the opposite sex while they’re trying to figure things out or come to terms with themselves. Of course, this all doesn’t mean that Drew will definitely be coming out, but it could be a really great storyline if it does go in that direction. I don’t imagine that Sarah would have a problem with Drew if he came out, but Zeek would be an interesting perspective – especially since he’s the one pushing the relationship.

Agreed. Drew always seems so boring and his whole storyline last season about “needing a male figure in his life” when he was getting perfectly good advice from his mother was eye-rolling. It absolutely infuriates me when people don’t realize what they have is good enough.

I am thrilled to see Drew receiving more airtime. He is one of the few characters that doesn’t grate with whiney shrieks or misplaced tantrums after five minutes onscreen. He rarely stands out because his performance is much more subtle than the oft-sobbing Braverman 3rd generation (as well as the 2nd!) but that’s what I like about the kid. His character arc has such emotional depth and I’m grateful Heizer plays the role with restraint. It makes the character that much more real and sympathetic.

Maybe he’s bi. Bisexual characters on Tv are always female cause it’s considered hot to have a girl going through “the phase” and then coming to their senses like nothing happened (see Adrianna on 90210 or ever Marissa on O.C.), but with boys it’s not as socially acceptable so it might be interesting to see how the story develops.

I often still wonder of they ever will feature those topics. I don’t know if anyone remember’s, but I think there was a part in a scene during the first season where camille was talking about someone she know’s who has a transgender realitive, and I think there was maybe a brief scene in the second season where they showed a gay couple where zeek and camille go dancing, and there was a scene in this season, the third, where Jasmine and Crosby explain the situation to jabbar of where their now “different relationship” now stands, and jasmine explained to him about there being different types of families and even mentioned that some have two moms or two dads, and so on. True, they still have not put a major screen focus to the topics, but by the impression of those minor examples, it could happen eventually. One example, again, could be with drew. But even if they don’t do it with him, that doesn’t mean it won’t be featured. Who knows, they could do it with any friends of haddie’s, amber’s, or drew’s they could later introduce. They could do it with any friends of any of the adults, any other family members or realitives of theirs out there. They could even possibly do it with young max, who may start experiencing male and female crushes, he’s like eleven now, still in the prime of his life and is getting closer to the age where kids start having romantic crushes and start discovering sexuality more directly. You never know. Every show can be different and have their own different paces of when and where they even start with many various topics, not just this one. I think in “Wings”, they waited until their second season when they first took in with the topics, first going into it with roy’s son, rj. So you never know. It probably still remains to be seen and probably will remain to be seen throughout much of it’s whole series.